Improtech Football Academy

In the summer of 2016, we became the second Academy to adopt Improtech Soccer as the provider for its new Football Academy. One year later and Improtech was launched in the 2017-2018 academic year, creating its first team and positioning itself for a future over the next few years of rapid expansion. With the experience of many years running the Football Academy at Kepier, Improtech has been able to ensure the seamless recruitment and launch of the new Academy.

The nature of Improtech Elite Academies means they cannot be on each other’s doorsteps – they have to have their own region to exclusively recruit talent from. The introduction of Improtech Soccer into Hartlepool was a perfect fit for English Martyrs too and will hopefully be of long-term benefit not only to the school itself but to the wider community and to Hartlepool United FC.

Stephen Hammond, headteacher welcomed the academy saying: “We were absolutely thrilled to have Improtech Soccer become our providers for the new Football Academy.

“They are the leading supplier of elite football coaching in education in the North East and have a fantastic track record of taking young prospects and developing them into players that get signed by professional football clubs. Martyrs already had a reputation for producing quality footballers – most notably Andy and David Linighan of course – but with the new Academy, the school is hoping to take it to the next level in terms of numbers. In the next few years, we’re determined to develop a reputation as the ‘go-to’ school for talented players who want to make the very best of their abilities, both in education and football.”

The new Football Academy’s arrival was welcomed by Hartlepool United youth coach Anthony Sweeney. He said: “Clubs like Hartlepool United depend on young players coming through and the fact we’ve got a UEFA Pro Licence coach training these lads in Hartlepool is fantastic.”

“Martin used to coach me and I learned so much from what he did that I try to incorporate elements of it into my own coaching.”

Our Aims

The aims and goals of the football academy

Applications

Apply for a place in the football academy

Partnership

Partnerships between our football academy and professional football clubs